July 1, 2014 AT 12:33 am

Vice Adm. Michelle Howard to receive history-making 4th star

For the first time in the Navy’s 236-year history, a woman will be pinned with a fourth star.

Vice Adm. Michelle Howard will be promoted Tuesday at Arlington National Cemetery, and will become the vice chief of naval operations, the service’s No. 2 officer.
A 1982 Naval Academy graduate, Howard has achieved many firsts in her career. She was the first black woman to command a ship — the amphibious dock landing ship Rushmore in 1999 — and went on to command Amphibious Squadron 7 and later Expeditionary Strike Group 2.